Services

£12m expansion to create 90 jobs at Blackburn paper firm

ONE of East Lancashire’s fastest-growing manufacturers has announced £12million plans to expand further, creating dozens of jobs.

Award-winning toilet roll maker, Accrol Papers, which has its base on the Roman Road Industrial Estate, Davy Field Road, Blackburn, announced it will create 90 jobs when it extends an existing warehouse and production buildings, if planners agree.

The work, which will be carried out by Burnley firm Barnfield Construction, will also include a new trailer park and access, and a new boundary fence. Commercial director at Accrol, Tim Bullough, said the company hoped to demolish a Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council motor vehicle service station, which is situated on land the company owns, when the council relocates ‘in a few months’.

He said: “It will allow us to increase production capacity and warehouse area.

“It’s a £12million investment to increase the size of the premises, and part of the project will be to buy new machines.

“We are continuing to expand and the reason we want to increase capacity is because we are experiencing demand from customers, which we can’t fully meet at the moment.”

Accrol, which employs 250 staff and turns over around £100million a year, celebrated its 20-year anniversary in 2013 by opening a new £6million headquarters.

It remains one of Europe’s largest independent soft tissue converters, with manufacturing capacity in excess of 65,000 tonnes per annum.

The company took home the Business Growth gong at the EEF Future Manufacturing Awards in 2011 and has previously won a Lancashire Telegraph Business Award.

The planning application, which will be discussed by planning officers at Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, includes plans to increase the existing car park by 38 spaces, including two more disabled spots and six more cycle spaces.

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